THE US: To date, the shalwar-kameez- with-combat-jacket look has been Osama bin Laden's sole contribution to style - but that may be about to change.
The brother of the world's most wanted man is to launch a fashion label exploiting the family's now infamous name. Mr Yesama Binladin, who uses a different spelling from his brother, obtained a trademark for fashion use in Switzerland and the EU before the September 11th attacks, but is pressing ahead with the plan despite the name's new notoriety.
He is now looking for an Italian partner to design and manufacture the clothing line, according to yesterday's Wall Street Journal.
Fashion experts compared the plan to trying to sell clothes branded "Hitler". Bill Prince, deputy editor of GQ, said: "It is in extraordinary bad taste. There may be a market for it in the Middle East so I can see the crude financial thinking behind it, but I don't think we'll be seeing it at any catwalk shows in the West."
Ms Rita Clifton, chairperson of the London-based consultancy Interbrand, said: "Hitler was also a very well known brand name, but we would all feel that a pair of Hitler shoes would be in very bad taste."
The brand will be launched in the Middle East and then in Europe. There are no plans for the line to be sold in the US, but lawyers are working on a trademark request for the name there.
The Binladin name, which has a variety of spellings, is one of the most famous in Saudi Arabia, where Osama bin Laden's father founded the country's largest construction dynasty.
Mr Binladin's Swiss lawyer, Juerg Brand, told the Wall Street Journal: "The name is one of the most famous in the world. We think people are able to distinguish between Osama and the rest of the family." - (Guardian Service)
The interim president of war-ravaged Afghanistan, Mr Hamid Karzai, has been called "the world's most elegant man" by American designer Tom Ford, the senior designer for haute couture house Gucci who was in Milan for Men's Fashion Week.